Best Productivity Tools for 2020 – 40 + Tools That Will Change Your Life

This list of the best productivity tools will save you time, enable you to get more done and transform your life. Simply put, these tools can save help you to create a productivity system to take you to the next level. In other words, get things done that are important and do fewer things that simply don’t move the dial.

I’ve put them together based on years of trying different productivity tools and apps.

So much has changed, we now have better productivity tools than ever before, making it easy to integrate them and create systems. You can automate so much of the little tasks that eat up your valuable time.

Now despite the fact, there are hundreds of productivity tools, these aren’t going to change you magically.

First of all, you need to identify what’s stopping you from achieving your goals already.

The point is to focus on what’s essential, and NOT the method/tool used to get the result you want.

Secondly, you want to develop good habits not just adopt the right tools.

Master ONE aspect of your productivity and then progress to another way to improve.

Don’t try to do everything at once.

As an example, if you find that you are spending too much time on email, adopt practices to improve your email.

If you’re a startup then there are lots more tools that you will need so head over to startup resource tools and check out the best tools to help you.

Don’t forget to set up a system that can be optimized, automated to save you time. Always look for how you can knit together different systems, automate them, and minimize your need to manually intervene in a process.

The Best Productivity Tools

Here’s our list of the best productivity tools that you can start using right now.

Project management tools

Workplace tools for collaboration and communication are transforming how teams get work done together. Moreover, these tools help teams keep track of what needs to get done and who is doing it.

1. Proofhub.

Launched in 2011, ProofHub is a cloud-based project management and collaboration tool. It symbolises by thousands of teams from all over the world. ProofHub takes the pain out of project management with its simple interface and amazing features. Furthermore, it has a mobile app, making it easy to connect with work even when you’re on the go.

ProofHub is an easy to project management tool. Furthermore, you can organise your projects, teams, and work-related information. Organisations such as NASA, Disney, Netflix, Taco Bell and many others love and use ProofHub.

2. Asana.

Asana is one of the best productivity tools for helping teams stay on-task and organized. Asana was among the first to make a real splash. If you’re on a team, Asana will help you keep all projects and tasks in one spot, assigning various users different jobs. Unlike project management platforms, Asana is capable of handling ongoing work.

3. Fleep.

Fleep is a great way to track your conversations with your network. Compared to Slack, Fleep is for dynamic teams that cross organisational borders. As an example, if you run projects with contractors as well as a permanent team, Fleep is an ideal communication tool. Instead of creating a closed team ecosystem (or a walled garden if you like), you can communicate openly with everyone who is and isn’t using Fleep.

4. Wrike.

Wrike easily helps you to allocate resources to tasks and projects. Coupled with checks and forecasts for team workloads, Wrike resolves schedule conflicts and reorganizes assignments with a few clicks. Additionally, you can build reports to view project progress and team performance.

5. Trello.

Trello changes organise ideas. As an example, instead of a standard list of tasks, it creates ‘kanban’ boards with cards that hold your ideas and lists to organise them. In particular, you have boards for projects; outline, writing, editing, and published boards.
For example, you can use it for team brainstorming. Moreover, the drag and drop feature makes it easy to group similar ideas.

Best Personal Productivity Tools.

Even though you might need to use the best productivity tools for teams, you also need ones that work for you personally. This section covers some of the more popular productivity tools and apps.

6. ToDoist.

Todoist is one of the best productivity tools for personal task management. As you would expect, Todoist works across all devices – CPC/desktop, tablet and mobile. Besides a host of great features, Todoist has a simple and intuitive interface that makes managing tasks blissfully easy. Although the free version of Todoist is very good, the Premium version is much better.

7. Azha.

Azha is a simple no-nonsense productivity app. The app allows you to create to-do lists and schedules. What makes Azha stand out though is the social layer, which allows you to share your list with your friends. You can even snap a quick photo of whatever you’re doing to go along with the list.

8. Things3.

Things3 is a brilliant app that has evolved massively over 5 years. Things3 can help organize your whole life, not only including your to-dos, but also ideas, projects, and other areas of your life. Things 3, from the Germany-based software startup Cultured Code, was a 2017 Apple Design award-winning app.

9. Paper by 53.

Paper by 53 is one of the best productivity tools – full stop. It is an incredible tool that allows you to draw and take notes, draw sketches, insert photos and notes, all in one place. Try it out you will be amazed at how simple the tools are, yet how flexible it is as a system.

10. Bear.

Bear is a note-taking app designed for iOS and Mac users. What makes Bear this such a fantastic app is it’s the simple and elegant interface. Essentially, you are given a canvas for writing that allows you to focus on your words. Apple recognised the app’s beauty as it awarded the Top App of the Year award to Bear.

Webinars and Virtual Meetings

11. ClickMeeting.

ClickMeeting is another dedicated webinar tool and it pretty much offers all the features you would expect at this stage. The only major thing lacking is the automated relay feature, once again – but you can record webinars and download them for sharing.

12. Zoom.

Zoom is a general purpose video conferencing tool that caters for business meetings, collaboration and dedicated webinar solutions. There’s no webinar automation available with Zoom but you get a reliable system for an incredibly modest price tag if all you need is live webinar hosting.

13. Demio.

Demio brings us back to the serious webinar platforms and this is the first real contender that competes with WebinarJam and EverWebinar. First of all, you can automate webinar replays with Demio, which the platform calls “Like Live Replays”. You also get the multimedia and interactive features, plus a range of customisation options for your registration page and thank you messages.

Time Trackers

14. Toggl.

Toggl is a simple time tracker tool – click the Toggl button and your timer begins! It’s a super simple, super easy way to track the time it takes to complete various tasks. Toggl also lets you look at reports and see how much time you spent on different projects throughout the week.

15. Harvest.

Harvest is a browser extension that gives you an honest report what things eat up your time and how much you spend on each of them. This will help you become aware what things distract you and thus, need to be cut off or watch yourself from. It can help you better strategize your time so you can utilize every minute you have every day. Another thing that makes Harvest a must-have is it syncs with other productivity tools like Asana.

16. Everhour.

Everhour has full range of features, as well as an intuitive time tracking software is for teams to reach goals faster. It keeps you precise with your project estimates ensuring you are with your tasks all the time.

17. Hubstaff.

Hubstaff is a time-tracking software trusted by more than 8,000 remote teams. Its time tracker runs as a software on your desktop or as a mobile app making it easy to track time. Once the time is tracked, you can invoice clients, pay employees, see in-depth reporting, and much more.

18. Time Doctor.

When you want to know where is your team spending their time while working even when they are hundreds of miles away from you, Time Doctor can help. Time Doctor is a complete time tracking and productivity tool designed specifically for remote teams.

19. Time.

Time is a productivity tool that gamifies the tasks to make it more fun and achievable. It uses artificial intelligence to help you keep everything in perspective. Using it is also very easy and straight-to-the-point: just enter the task you need to focus on and set how much time you need to finish the task. You get a green background first but as time runs out, it turns to yellow, then to red. In case you haven’t finished the task on time, the app turns to Overtime Mode and records how much extra time you’ve spent more on the task.

Best Productivity Tools for Note Taking

20. Evernote.

Evernote is one of the best productivity tools because it is so versatile. As an example, you can use Evernote to create notes, organise lists, set reminders, and upload attachments. What’s more, it syncs across all your devices so you are constantly up-to-date. Also, Evernote’s bookmarklet makes it easy to clip web articles and store them for later reading. If you’re constantly jumping devices, this is ideal for you.

21. Nebo.

Nebo is an Android, Windows and iOS note taking productivity tool stacked with awesome features. In the first place, it automatically transforms your handwritten notes to text. With Nebo, you can even write even mathematical equations, bullet points and diagrams. Furthermore, Nebo allows you to make calculations. Additionally, you can export them to Microsoft Office documents and text files. Last but not least, the search tool makes it easy for you to find and sort through your files.

22. Simplenote.

Simplenote is a simple way to keep notes. Because it is light, clean, and uncluttered, you get to focus on your thoughts. Simplenote makes finding files, just type what you are looking for and your list updates instantly. However, the best part is that your notes are backed up.

Best Productivity Tools for Managing Your Inbox

Managing your inbox is an essential part of maintaining a good productivity regime. Start by reducing down the emails that aren’t needed.

23. Sanebox.

Sanebox cleans up your inbox then Sanebox is the productivity tool for you. First of all, it automatically organises your emails placing them into different folders. As well as this, the folders are organised based on each email’s importance so that you focus on what matters.

24. Unroll.me.

The best thing about Unroll.me is that it is as simple as it can get. It cleans up your inbox by categorizing your subscriptions in the form of a virtual roll-up. You can access it whenever you have some free time. Also, the roll-up feature allows you to read emails at the time chosen by you.

25. Boomerang.

Booomerang is a brilliant email management application for Gmail that schedules and set email reminders. The best thing about it is that it allows you to ‘boomerang’ a message back to your inbox to remind you about it at the later time of your choice.

26. Airmail.

Airmail is designed from the ground up to deliver a beautiful email experience. It is a lightning fast mail client for Mac and iPhone and you can use it for multiple accounts.

Distractions and focus

Staying focused on a task without distractions helps you get through it far faster than if you get distracted. Use this range of best productivity tools to stay focused and get more done.

27. Serene.

Serene is one of my favourite apps for distraction-free working. What makes it unique is the ease with which you can block distractions and plan your day.

28. Freedom.

Freedon is a one of the best productivity tools for removing distractions. Basically, it reduces distractions by blocking apps or the internet.

29. Self-Control.

Self-control is a free and open-source productivity tool for macOS. It removes access to distracting websites, and your prevents your emails coming in. To use it, you simply set how long to block access and click ‘Start’.

30. Focus booster.

Focus booster is based on the Pomodoro technique, focus booster will empower you to maintain focus and manage distractions. Stay focused and fresh to get more done.

31. Forest.

Forest is a great tool to put your phone down and focus on what’s important. Here, the idea is to build a forest of trees where every tree symbolizes your task. Whenever you want to focus, plant a tree, and if you leave Forest it dies.

32. Brain.fm.

Brain.fm is a good productivity tool that uses music as brain stimulation. The development team work with leading neuroscientists to validate their findings.

Best Productivity Tools for Social Media

33. Buffer.

Buffer helps you to schedule your social media posts for different channels. You can either set the time manually or let Buffer automatically work out the best time to post.

34. Hootsuite.

Hootsuite is another good tool for scheduling social media. In particular, Hootsuite provides a useful dashboard that allows you to see the posts, respond to messages and much more.

35. Crowdfire.

Crowdfire is a social media marketing tool that allows you to manage Twitter and Instagram accounts easily. The idea of Crowdfire is to help build larger communities of followers on Twitter or Instagram. With Crowdfire you can schedule posts for Instagram or Twitter.

Best Productivity tools for Finance

36. Paymo.

Dealing with finances can absorb a lot of time if you don’t use the right tools. Paymo takes away the pain of planning, scheduling, task management, time tracking and invoicing, then Paymo is your answer. Bringing all the important elements under one roof, it makes easier to get an overview of your team’s performance.

37. Hiveage.

Hiveage is a complete online invoice software platform for small business invoicing, billing, reports and more to help you grow.

38. Expensify.

Expensify has a wide range of business products that relate to managing your expenses, and in particular in the travel sector. A platform can help you track your spendings on flights, and even encourage you to find better deals that wouldn’t leave such a dent in your wallet.

Automation

As you develop your business, you start to realise there are more and more things to do. As a result, you know that you need more help and to automate more. Why wait? Start by automating as much as you can from day one. Consequently, you will find that you get more done and are a lot more efficient with your time.

39. IFTT.

IFTT helps you automate lots of things, from social media to productivity apps. You will find lots of pre-made integrations, and of course, you can also create your own. Read about the best IFTT recipes.

40. Zapier

Zapier has more business type integrations that IFTT and there is a price based on how many integrations you use. That said, it still saves you a tonne of work and delivers some amazing results. If you can’t find things that integrate easily then check out Zapier.

Other Top Productivity Tools

41. Toptal.

Toptal offers a massive pool of talent to draw upon when you need it. Of course, the top talent is busy, but they are worth contacting and scheduling into your future projects. Top talent means you get fast, reliable and effective results.

42. Scanbot.

Scanbot is a useful tool for scanning pretty much anything that you can thing of. Furthermore, this neat app automatically makes a load of adjustments to give you the best results.

43. Scannable.

Scannable is another fantastic scanning tool. Images captured by Scannable are easily saved to your device or to Evernote, shared via email or text message, exported, or opened using other apps on your device.

44. Grammarly.

Grammarly is a life saver for those people who write a lot. Grammarly is one of the best productivity tools for saving time on checking your writing. Moreover, it works across all mobile, desktop and of course tablet.

45. Just Press Record.

Just Press Record provides one of the few recording options across all your devices. Simply record and the files are synced to the cloud where you can access them anytime you want and on any device.

46. Momentum.

Momentum is another awesome productivity app. The best part is that you can track how productive you are, how much you’re getting done.

47. DockPhone.

Dockphone allows you to simply take and make call on your Mac without the need to pull out your phone. Super easy to use and intuitive.

48. LastPass.

Lastpass is one of those must have productivity tools. Store and access your passwords using Latpass. What’s more, you can have complex highly secure and different passwords for all your sites.

49. Cyfe.

Cyfe gives you a one-stop place for all your analytics. Use it for Google analytics, Facebook and much more. Cyfe saves you from having to log in to loads of different sites to get an overview of your data.

50. Sleeptime.

Sleep Time tracks your sleep patterns and provides a natural time for you to wake up. After all, if you are tired you will not be productive.

51. Milanote.

Milanote is a tool for organizing creative projects into beautiful visual boards. By design, it feels a lot like working on the wall in a creative studio – visual, tactile and sometimes a bit messy – Milanote is a great fit for designers who work in teams remotely.

Key Features:

• Write notes & to-do lists, upload images & files and save things you find on the web
• Organize visually using the flexible drag and drop interface.
• Boards by default are a private place to think, but with a single click you can create a shared workspace for collaboration with your team
• Milanote is filled with hundreds of built-in templates to help you get started with a variety of different projects, from creating a mood board to writing that perfect creative brief.

Pricing:
– Free version available with no time limit. 
– PRO version $9.99 per month (monthly and annual plans)

Summary of the Best Productivity Tools

There are tonnes of productivity tools in the market. I’ve have listed the best productivity tools to help you get more done, stress less and see the full benefits of being productive. If there are any tips or tools you recommend then drop them in the comments.